Listicle: 10 priceless artworks damaged by clumsy folks

Hindustan Times

11-07-2025

Janitor sweeps up a trashy installation. Damien Hirst's installation at London's Eyestorm Gallery in 2001 was made out of beer bottles, coffee cups and overflowing ashtrays. How was cleaner Emmanuel Asare to know that it was not a pile of rubbish waiting to be cleared? It happened at Italy's Sala Murat gallery too. In 2014, a cleaner handed over scattered cardboard, newspapers and biscuit pieces to garbage collectors, clueless that the 'rubbish' was a £8,200 work of art. In 2001, a cleaner handed Damien Hirst's installation made of beer bottles and ashtrays to the garbage collector. (INSTAGRAM/@DAMIENHIRST)
In 2006, American business magnate Steve Wynn's elbow accidentally pierced Picasso's Le Rêve. (SHUTTERSTOCK)
Picasso's mistress gets elbowed in Le Rêve. Poor Picasso! He titled his 1932 painting Le Rêve (The Dream), depicting his mistress Marie T Walter. But he couldn't have dreamt that she'd be shoved by American business magnate and art collector Steve Wynn decades later. In 2006, while showing the painting to his friends, Wynn's elbow accidentally pierced through the canvas, causing a six-inch tear. In 2013, businessman Steve Cohen purchased the restored painting for $155 million.
In 2022, a bored guard doodled eyes on the faces of Anna Leporskaya's 1930s work Three Figures. (BORIS YELTSIN PRESIDENTIAL CENTRE)
Guard doodles on Three Figures. It was his first day working at Russia's Boris Yeltsin Presidential Centre in 2022. He was a war veteran. He was bored. So, Alexander Vasilyev took a ballpoint pen and doodled two pairs of eyes on the featureless faces of Anna Leporskaya's 1930s work. He thought he was improving on a child's drawing. He ended up vandalising a historic canvas and was sentenced to 180 hours of compulsory labour and psychiatric evaluation.
Rembrandt's The Night Watch (1642) has survived one acid and two knife attacks. (SHUTTERSTOCK)
Rembrandt's The Night Watch, a psycho's fav. The Dutch master's 1642 oil painting has had its sides cut to fit the wall in Amsterdam Town Hall. Worse, it bore knife attacks in 1911 and again in 1975, when a mentally unstable Dutchman sliced it zig zag with a knife, claiming that he was on a 'divine mission' at the 'behest of God!' In 1990, a runaway psychiatric patient sprayed it with sulphuric acid. Thank heavens for protective varnish!
In 2006, a visitor stumbled down the stairs, shattering Chinese Qing dynasty vases worth £100,000. (SHUTTERSTOCK)
Visitor smashes ancient Chinese vases. Nick Flynn tripping over his untied shoelace spelled doom for three 17th-century Chinese Qing dynasty vases. He tumbled down the stairs of the UK's Fitzwilliam Museum in 2006, crashing into them. They were worth about £100,000 and uninsured. He got arrested. But he blamed the museum for their 'careless' display. Visitors flocked to the crash site as news spread. He took credit for increasing museum footfall too.
In 2009, a worker at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Corsica sat on Napoleon's historic chair and broke it. (SHUTTERSTOCK)
Worker tests the weight of Napoleon's chair. In 2009, a worker at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Corsica couldn't resist the temptation of sitting on a 200-year-old exhibit – a folding chair – that Napoleon Bonaparte had often used. The historic chair had lasted numerous heavy-weight military campaigns and had stayed intact. But its red leather seat and wooden frame crumbled under the weight of a mere security guard. Luckily, restorers were able to salvage it.
In 2016, two teens engraved in white over a faded 5000-year-old Scandinavian rock illustration. (SHUTTERSTOCK)
Teens add highlights to 5000-year-old Scandinavian rock art. The two meant well. They just wanted the faded 5000-year-old illustration depicting a skiing man to be clearly visible to visitors at a Norwegian island. So, in 2016, they engraved in white over its faded outline. The damage is unfortunately irreversible. The oldest known evidence of the sport, which inspired the logo for the 1994 Winter Olympics, exists now only in photos.
Last month, one man broke Nicola Bolla's Swarovski crystal-studded Van Gogh Chair by sitting on it. (INSTAGRAM/@PALAZZOMAFFEIVERONA)
Crystal chair crushes photo op. This happened only last month. Contemporary sculptor Nicola Bolla's Van Gogh Chair laden with hundreds of Swarovski crystals was on view at Verona's Palazzo Maffei in Italy. One man tried to pose half-seated on the bejewelled chair while his companion took a picture. He lost his balance and broke the chair's seat and legs. Security cameras caught them fleeing before the staff found out. The chair has since been restored.
In 2020, an art critic accidentally wrecked Gabriel Rico's $20K installation by placing a soda can next to it. (INSTAGRAM/@GALERIAOMR)
Critic shatters Gabriel Rico's installation. On the one hand, a work that featured household objects such as a feather and football poking through a large pane of glass. On the other, a respected art critic who disliked the work. Avelina Lésper was at the Zona Maco Art Fair in Mexico City in 2020 when she placed a soda can near Rico's $20,000 work. The reverb caused it to shatter. The damage was unintentional. 'It was like the work heard my comment and felt what I thought of it,' she told reporters.
A visitor tried to mimic Ferdinando de' Medici's pose for a picture. He tripped, and ripped the artwork. (UFFIZI GALLERY)
Meme misfires on Gabbiani's Baroque masterpiece. Baroque painter Anton Domenico Gabbiani and his portrait's subject Ferdinando de' Medici are long dead. But their expressed their disapproval from the beyond last month, when a visitor leaned against the portrait at Florence's Uffizi Gallery, mimicking the Tuscan prince's pose. The man tripped and fell backwards on the canvas, causing a rip in the 1712 work. Italy is considering new rules for selfies. Not a moment too soon.
From HT Brunch, July 12, 2025
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